Gameplay:

Who would not want to be part of the Rebel Alliance
or the Galactic Empire? FC is an epic tale of good and evil
with a strong fan-base and a lot of replayability. The developers
did an excellent job of making sure that the game was play
balanced and the story line was not 'rushed' like in other
strategies. What prevented a perfect rating in this catergory
was that there was only one massive campaign of 24 missions,
rather than a campaign for each faction. Those who will want
to play the rebels will have to wait until after the Imperial
story is told.

Graphics:

The steep requirements may put this out of the range
for some people. An 8mb graphics card means an 8mb graphics
card, but it runs great on the minimum required machine. The
textures are detailed, but there is still the problem with
the animation of the walkers. Also, there is only support
for D3D. There is no another option. This, again, is a minor
thing that is thrown in the pile of lost details.

Sound and Music:

The voices give the units character and make you closer
to them. It feels like you really are ordering the troopers
to move into combat, rather than just controlling the action
from afar. The only minor problem is the music sync in the
introduction. This is very minor, and gaming will not be affected.
Music also plays a nice part; many parts of the score are
available in MP3 format from LucasArts' website. I find myself
listening to them while doing homework or playing my nightly
game of Hearts.

Multiplayer:

Where is the mapmaker? There are only a few multiplayer
levels that get really repetitive after a few games. The maps
that are included do allow the players to remake some of the
big battles on Endor and Hoth, but that is about it. What
is saving this rating from really going in the crapper is
the availability of online games. While there is an option
to play versus droids, it is always much better to whoop a
real person on the Zone.

AI and Difficulty:

The AI is overpowering and there are not any difficulty
settings. With in a minute of starting a game the enemy will
be attacking the human base with troopers. This should only
happen at high difficulty settings, not the 'everyone play
here' setting.

Controls and Interface:

The interface is complicated, but it is explained
well in the tutorials. Those who are used to games like Age
of Empires and StarCraft will be able to jump right in to
the unit movement and attack controls with out any problems.
All of the camera controls are set to one array of keys, but
they are arranged so that it is easy to remember what camera
control is where. The key: everything is explained well in
the tutorial.

Overall:

Force Commander is an average game, worthy of anyone's
gaming library. Do not count it out because of the errors.
The nit-picking that was done found a few minor things wrong
with the game that really made the game feel sloppy. It is
still fun to play, but there is the major problem of the AI
being extremely tough.